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Volume 1

The individual is the most complex and marvelous product of natural and social evolution with unlimited capacity for further development – physically, socially, emotionally, mentally and spiritually... Read more

It is not unlimited growth the world needs, but unlimited human development. Rightly organized, the world is abundantly capable of securing an ample measure of human welfare to all human beings ... Read more

The Mediterraneans, as well as the Europeans and Mankind as a whole, are in front of a 'great transition' and a 'transformation agenda' for several reasons from a political, economic and ecological point ... Read more

Organization holds the key to global food security. The present, unorganized functioning of global agriculture, like the present global approach to military security, engenders insecurity ... Read more

At the root of the current crisis is not subprime mortgages, credit rating agencies, financial institutions or central banks. It is the Great Divorce between finance and economy, which is a subset of the widening precipice between economy and human welfare... Read More

Given the remarkable progress of humanity over the past two centuries, the persistence of poverty might not be so alarming, were it not for the persistent poverty of new ideas and fresh thinking on how to eliminate the recurring crises .... Read more

The emerging individual is less deferential to the past and more insistent on his or her rights; less willing to conform to regimentation, more insistent on freedom and more tolerant of diversity...Read more

Genius sees profundity in simple facts. According to legend, Newton discovered the invisible law of gravity watching an apple falling to earth. Archimedes discovered his famous principle of fluid mechanics observing the rising ... Read more

Social development is not a result or even a set of results, but an on-going process of progress by which humanity acquires increasing knowledge, skill and organizational capacity to achieve ... Read More

Terms of sustainability cannot exclusively be defined from an environmental point of view or attitude. Rather, the challenge is to define operational and consistent terms of sustainability from an integrated social.... Read more

If we are to avoid future systemic failures in the global financial system, we must re-think the underlying design flaws that precipitated the financial crises. We must move beyond Bretton Woods ... Read More

The essence of today's world leadership appears to be economic but, in truth, it requires political maturity to express it. Political inspiration that underlies economic realities qualifies ... Read more

The three organizations - WAAS, Club of Rome and the Pugwash Movement - should sincerely join forces and act together, so that we can fully utilize use our collective experience, intellectual ... Read more

Economic thinking is still very largely related to traditional Cartesian (and Newtonian) concepts of science. The notion of equilibrium is not really a concept or an explanation, but rather a tautology ... Read more

As it did several centuries ago, India needs to help the world rediscover the meaning of zero, this time in the nuclear realm. It must advocate universal nuclear disarmament as a state of zero nuclear weapons ... Read more

The greatest global challenge that faces the international community today is that of the current transnational revolution in human affairs, which in turn is triggered by the combination of three ... Read more

Decisions on our common future should no longer rest solely on world leaders, who can evade or even obstruct meaningful change. A simultaneous electronic ballot on saving bios is a brilliant opportunity to demonstrate that, as citizens of the world... Read more

Today humanity has acquired the conscious self-awareness and the organizational capacity for self-expression and coordinated action. Organizing the consciousness of the global power of citizenry ... Read more

I would suggest searching for a more appropriate word for failure, one not tainted with negative connotations. Because failure is the high road to innovation, because failure is the inevitable investment in the future, because failure is – the road to success... Read more

Working for peace is part of the heritage WAAS fellows have been given by Academy founders who, after helping develop the theories and technology for nuclear weapons, were amongst the first to recognize that they ... Read more

Society is evolving. Understanding the present in the light of the past, we see only the problems resulting in gloom. Understanding the present in the light of the future compels us to evolve ... Read more

The wide range of innovative mechanisms commonly employed to settle disputes outside the courtroom is illustrative of the larger potential for organizational innovation in other fields designed ... Read more

The difference between predation and competition is that predation knows no rules. In contrast, competition can be made fair. Making sure that it is—by disallowing rankism in all its guises—a proper function of government... Read more

How important is global governance? Is there a growing need? If so, as many argue, is progress being made relative to the need? Who is saying what? Are there important trends in thinking? And patterns ... Read more

The Original thinker seeks not just ideas but original ideas which are called in Philosophy Real-Ideas. Cadmus Journal refers to them as Seed-Ideas. Ideas, sooner or later, lead to action. Pregnant ideas have the dynamism to lead to action. Real-Ideas are capable ... Read more

Uncertainty and security are not contradictory or mutually exclusive concepts. They are really complements and the interaction between them represents a virtually unlimited source for wealth creation.... Read more

The economics of growth must be replaced by equilibrium economics, where considerations of ecology, carrying capacity, and sustainability are given proper weight, and where the quality of life of future generations has as much importance as present profits.... Read more

A proper and well accepted definition of misconduct, reliable means of identification, and effective corrective actions deserve a high priority on the agenda of research institutes, universities ... Read more

The economics of growth must be replaced by equilibrium economics, where considerations of ecology, carrying capacity, and sustainability are given proper weight, and where the quality of life of future generations has as much importance as present profits... Read more

This is a call for immediate and concerted action to embrace the values, formulate the new ideas and put in place the next layer of governance structures required to cope with the chal­lenges posed ... Read more

A large part of the elites all over the world are still used to thin­king in terms of competition of nations rather than in terms of international cooperation. What is called for, instead, is a way of thinking ... Read more

The extreme conditions and the fragile and sensitive ecology of the Arctic mean that sustai­nable management and development of the region in the next 50 years will require a thou­ghtful approach to planning ... Read more

A growing awareness has been arising over the 20 years since the Earth Summit at Rio in 1992 and is being translated into possibilities for action within nations. And as the awareness of sustainability and climate change challenges increases ... Read more

It took 30 years from when the current success measure of GDP was invented in the 1930s to regular use for policy guidance in the 1960s; we now need to institute “monthly measures of national well-being ... Read more

Understanding money as a social organization, we perceive that it is capable of infinite multiplication, the same way information, knowledge, law, education and other social institutions can and do multiply ... Read more

There is now an increasing interest in such outside-the-box thinking even in conservative institutions, which are aware that the “wealth” created by the current financial system is increasingly illusory ... Read more

There can be no reasonable situation where threat of use of nuclear weapons would be justified for self-defence. But such a threat exists in the very possession of nuclear weapons themselves ... Read more

The core of the nuclear weapons problem is the challenge of evolving effective institutions for global governance. The solution to this and other serious challenges can only be resolved by humanity as a whole ...Read more

The really confining limits are not material or technological, but conceptual. The real barriers are the limits imposed by prevailing ideas and values. We are unwitting and unknowing prisoners of our own conceptions ... Read more

There should be a recognition of a global commitment to a right to development with an explicit emphasis on the development of human and social capital as the true repository and generator of human values on a global scale ... Read more

Economics would like to see itself as a natural science (physics, preferably) being applied to society, and thereby assume that human consciousness and intention play no role in the events that are observed and measured in the social context ... Read more

Economy is a human science concerned with the study of how conscious human beings and social groups apply and direct their energy, knowledge, skills and organizational capabilities to generate wealth, promote human welfare and enhance the well-being of all. ... Read more

Malthus was conscious that he had drawn an extremely dark picture of the human condition... he was convinced that the dark shades really are there, and that they form an important part of the picture ...Read more

The growth of wealth is a measure of humanity’s capacity to integrate myriad points of production and consumption within an ever widening, increasingly interconnected and complex network of trust. ... Read more

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Abstract
On 2 April, 2013, the Arms Trade Treaty, which had been blocked for ten years in the consensus-bound Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, was put directly before the United Nations General Assembly, and was passed by a massive majority. This historic victory opens new possibilities for progress on other seemingly intractable issues. In particular, it gives... Read more

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The last decade has witnessed significant changes in the structure of unemployment in the global labour market. This is corroborated by the fact that the global workforce is rapidly aging and the share of people aged 50 and over in the structure of the labour market is increasing. In line with this trend, unemployment issues should be considered as a global problem... Read more

This is Part 2 in the Money Series. Part 1 "The Power of Money" is available here.
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Abstract
This article is not a comprehensive factual history of money as an economic instrument. It aims rather to present an essential psychological history of the power of money as a social organization or social technology. It explores the catalytic role of money in the... Read more

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T.R. Malthus' "An Essay on the Principle of Population" (1798) was one of the first systematic studies of the problem of population in relation to resources. It was the first such study to stress the fact that, in general, powerful checks operate at all times to keep human populations from increasing beyond the available food supply. In a later edition, published... Read more

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"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment." - Robert Hutchins
Abstract
When it comes to political organisation the western world likes to claim the moral high ground. It touts the benefits of free and fair elections, as if the concept of democracy were a self-... Read more

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The remarkable achievements of one of the world's greatest entrepreneurs offer profound insights into the fundamental nature of economy and essential missing links in prevailing economic theory. The career of Steve Jobs dramatically illustrates the central importance of human capital in modern economy and the almost incalculable contribution that a single... Read more

Happiness Then and Now and the Place of the Human Being in Social Theory
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Πάντων χρημάτων μέτρον άνθρωπος ΠρωταγόραςThe human being is the measure of all things- Protagoras
Abstract
Protagoras said, "The human being is the measure of all things". This implies, among other things, that language, science and religion are human inventions, as are economics, money, efficiency,... Read more

This issue of Cadmus marks a significant shift in emphasis from analysis of problems to the search for viable comprehensive solutions. The need for a new paradigm for global development capable of addressing the pressing challenges and opportunities of the 21st century was a main conclusion of the World Academy’s conference in Trieste in March 2013 and it is the central theme of WAAS conferences... Read more

Beyond Capitalism, Socialism, and Other Old Isms
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Abstract
Old economic approaches are not capable of meeting our economic, environmental, and social challenges. To effectively meet these challenges, we need a perspective that goes beyond the conventional capitalism vs. socialism debate. This paper places economic valua- tions in their social context from the perspective... Read more

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Abstract
One of the most far-reaching decisions of the United Nations General Assembly was the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development in 1986. The Declaration was adopted with an expectation of optimism about progression to a new global economic dispensation. This did not happen. However, the Declaration remains an important symbol of global expectation.... Read more

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Insights from Trieste
The Trieste Forum in March 2013 marked a significant milestone in the effort of the World Academy to evolve a comprehensive, integrated, transdisciplinary perspective for addressing global challenges. An initial presentation on the physics of Dark Matter aptly illustrated the need for new thinking in the social sciences. If the most mathematically... Read more

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Abstract
The emergence of the Internet as a measureable manifestation of our social and economic relationships changed the domination of networks in our lives. From about 2000, the internet has allowed us to study and understand the type of networks in which we live, and to model their behaviour. The Internet has fundamentally changed the distribution of wealth. The rich... Read more

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Abstract
It is important to reconsider the measurements which refer to the “Wealth of Nations” and from which the most appropriate references for better welfare policies are derived. In the present Service Economy, not all the “value added” measures indicate an increase in the level of wealth (the costs to cope with pollution for instance), whereas many developments in... Read more

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Abstract
The World Academy has recently launched an initiative to bring together like-minded organizations and individuals to examine the root causes of the multiple challenges confronting humanity today and formulate a comprehensive strategy for addressing them. Its central premise is that viable, effective solutions can be found to meet the entire spectrum of economic,... Read more

Energizing Euro
The current crisis is an indictment against the dominant competitive economic theory. To liberate the economy from exponential debt growth, so that it works for people and the planet, we need to change how money works.
Our modern debt-based money creates the illusion of continuously growing wealth. But, it only delivers forced trade and labour; forced loss of bio-diversity and... Read more

The ATOM Project is a new international initiative to build global support for a permanent end to nuclear weapons testing and the total abolition of nuclear weapons. It was launched at a parliamentary assembly in Astana, Kazakhstan on August 29, 2012, the UN International Day Against Nuclear Tests, established in recognition of the closing of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on that day in... Read more

Editorial Note
None who has witnessed the human suffering inflicted by nuclear radiation at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site in Kazakhstan can justify the continued existence of nuclear weapons for a single moment longer than is needed to destroy all of them. Statistics do not tell the story, but if ever a statistic makes a compelling narrative, then the 1.5 million Kazakhstanis who have... Read more

Canadian Pugwash organized a Strategic Foresight Workshop on “A Secure World without Nuclear Weapons” in Nova Scotia, Canada, August 16-18, 2012. The workshop was attended by over 30 Pugwashites from all around the world. This workshop included outstanding talks by Senator D. Roche, one of the founders of the Middle Powers Initiative, on “Reasons Why Nuclear Disarmament Has Not Been Achieved”; by... Read more

Humanities and the Contemporary World, Podgorica, Montenegro: The past fivemonths have been among the most fruitful periods of activity for the World Academy inrecent memory. It commenced with the conference hosted by the Montenegrin Academy ofSciences and Arts and co-organized by WAAS on June 7-9, 2012, as reported in the Summer 2012 WAAS Newsletter. WAAS organized special sessions at the... Read more

Forty years after publishing its first Report on The Limits to Growth, the Club of Rome held the 2012 Annual Conference on October 1-2, 2012, in Bucharest, Romania, where it brought together some of the world’s thought leaders to debate the most pressing challenges of our time.
In 1972, The Limits to Growth commanded critical attention and sparked debate around the world about the future of... Read more

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Climate change and nuclear weapons, the two great security threats of the 21st century, are uniquely influential in the Arctic. Although the current risk of conflict is low, the global future is potentially turbulent. There is a ‘new’ Arctic because of meltdown induced by climate change. Some see great economic opportunities; others see ecological and human security threats... Read more

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Abstract
This article presents highlights and insights from the International Conference on “Nuclear Threats and Security” organized by the World Academy of Art and Science in association with the European Leadership Network and the Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy and sponsored by NATO at the Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik on... Read more

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Abstract
The run up to the NPT Review Conference in 2010 brought nuclear disarmament into focus. Transitory though this trend turned out to be, it nevertheless became a trigger for India to re-examine its own position on disarmament. In order to take a considered view on the subject, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh instituted an Informal Group in October 2010 with the... Read more

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Abstract
The primary objections raised against total elimination of nuclear weapons are built around a few arguments mostly of non-technical nature.
Nuclear weapons and the strategies for their use have resulted in the establishment of a vicious circle within which the international community is trapped.
The argument that the world will be unsafe without nuclear weapons is... Read more

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Abstract
Deployment of nuclear forces as an international security mechanism for prevention of major war is far removed from the world envisaged by the United Nations Charter in which threat or use of force is the exception, not the rule. Reliance on nuclear weapons has also distorted the development of major instruments of international humanitarian law and international... Read more

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Abstract
Recent evidence from World War II and the Cold War shows that nuclear weapons are far less useful as military and political tools than has been believed. Far from giving a madman the power to conquer the world, nuclear weapons are clumsy, dangerous technology with very few real uses — even if you have a monopoly.
No one does his best thinking when gripped by fear.... Read more

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It is becoming increasingly clear that the concept of the absolutely sovereign nation-state is a dangerous anachronism in a world of thermonuclear weapons, instantaneous communication, and economic interdependence. Probably our best hope for the future lies in developing the United Nations into a World Federation. The strengthened United Nations should have a... Read more

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The author sets about re-thinking the old concept of “World Peace Through Law” (WPTL), meaning replacing the use of international force with the global rule of law. He traces the history of the WPTL concept back to the British legal philosopher Jeremy Bentham, whose 1789 ‘Plan for an Universal and Perpetual Peace’ proposed “a plan of general and permanent... Read more

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The current international security framework is based on an incomplete, anachronistic conception of sovereignty shaped largely by historical circumstance rather than principles of universal justice. Evolution of the global community over the past half century necessitates a reformulation of the concept to justly represent the rights of individual citizens and the... Read more

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The widespread failure to understand money creation plays a key role in the current policy impasse. In a world ruled by money, this failure disempowers and prevents serious consideration of alternatives. The key reasons why we are not moving faster in tackling the global crises are, we are told, because it is too expensive, there is not enough money, it is not (yet... Read more

"The starting point is a human-centered theory of value that recognizes human welfare as the central objective and the creativity of human capital as the ultimate resource and source of all others."
The discipline of Economics is at a cross-roads. Either it undertakes a comprehensive reevaluation of its fundamental postulates and a critical reassessment of their utility to solve real world... Read more

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Abstract
Economics is an important construct explaining human wealth and well-being. Many economic ideas of the industrial era, however, are not appropriate to 21st century economies, where human and natural capital are increasingly valued, and simplistic assessments of wealth, national product, growth, and human happiness are increasingly questioned due to bad economic... Read more

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The body of macroeconomic theory known as the neoclassical-Keynesian synthesis, hereafter mainstream macroeconomics, has dominated the practice of economics since the middle of the twentieth century and is largely unchallenged in institutions that teach economics. Not only does mainstream macroeconomics underlie monetary and fiscal policies intended to promote... Read more

This is Part 1 in the Money Series. Part 2 "Multiplying Money" is available here.
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Although we all use money every day, the nature and functioning of money seem shrouded in commonplace myths and ancient mysteries. Money plays a central role in economics today, yet rarely do we come across a serious, informed discussion of what money really is and what role it plays... Read more

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A Report from the Club of Rome – EU Chapter to Finance Watch and the World Business Academy
By Bernard Lietaer, Christian Arnsperger, Sally Goerner and Stefan Brunnhuber Triarchy Press 2012
This report by WAAS Fellow Bernard Lietaer and his associates addresses important theoretical and practical issues regarding modern monetary systems. The central thesis of the report is... Read more

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Report of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability
NY: United Nations, 30 Jan 2012, 94p (download full report or 22p Overview at www.un.org/gsp)
This report is the latest UN vision of what must be done for a sustainable planet—essentially an update of the 1987 Brundtland report—featuring 56 proposals to empower people, to promote a... Read more

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2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years is a report to the CoR commemorating the 40th anniversary of The Limits to Growth, written by one of the four original authors. This broad forecast is “an informed guess tracing the big lines in what I see as the probable global evolution toward 2052…the most likely global roadmap to 2052 so that I would know what I am in for... Read more

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This reflection on Rio+20 examines many of the major social institutions and how they fulfilled their functions during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development at Rio. The institutions are: 1. Nation-states as a collective. 2. Individual nation-states. 3. Vanguard institutions (some NGOs). 4. Action and convening NGOs. 5. Global media. 6. Governments... Read more

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Since the world conference in Rio in 1992, the world has been facing the challenge of consciously organizing sustainable development. The goal is no less than the organization of growth compatible with sustainability, together with the creation of a global social balance and the preservation of ecological systems. In this context, the demands of a global ethic and... Read more

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At the 2012 Global Roundtable conducted in Split, Croatia in July, co-sponsored by the World Academy of Art and Science, the organizers proposed introduction of a new TESLA award for unrecognized genius, an acronym for The Earth Supreme Level Award. This is an important and commendable initiative by philanthropist Hares Youssef which directly ties into the Academy’s... Read more

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Abstract
The concept of nuclear deterrence is seriously flawed, and it violates the fundamental ethical principles of all major religions. Besides being morally unacceptable, nuclear weapons are also illegal according to a historic 1996 decision of the International Court of Justice, a ruling that reflects the opinion of the vast majority of the worldʼs peoples. Even a... Read more

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Women play a crucial role in many activities essential for coping with climate change. Indian women appear to be more vulnerable than men to differential impacts of climate change because they share most of the household managing responsibilities but have limited access to participation in decision making and governance. Most of the policies for climate change... Read more

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Research misconduct is a serious threat to science and to society. A variety of Codes of Conduct for research integrity have been developed in Europe by universities, academies of sciences and funding organisations, but this has resulted in a patchwork of codes and procedures, which hampers international collaborative research. ALLEA and ESF have taken the... Read more

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As globalization continues, many transformations in international and domestic laws are underway or called for. There are too many laws and too few, too much law that is inadequate or obsolete, and too much law-breaking. This biblioessay covers some 100 recent books, nearly all recently published, arranged in four categories. 1) International Law... Read more

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Although Asian countries attain relatively high growth rates of GDP, many citizens do not seem to benefit from it. To remedy this problem, multilateral development institutions have developed the concept of inclusive growth, defined as growth that allows all members of a society to participate in and contribute to the growth process on an equal basis, regardless of... Read more

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Sovereignty-sharing has placed European countries in a position to resolve their common problems through law, not war. As a result, the EU member states now live in peace together and take peace, justice and order for granted. The system of global governance is dysfunctional – some states are failing and the Security Council lacks legitimacy. Humanity does not have... Read more

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In this essay, human society is regarded as a “superorganism”, analogous to colonies of social insects. The digestive system of the human superorganism is the global economy, which ingests both free energy and resources, and later excretes them in a degraded form. This process involves an increase in entropy. Early in the 20th century, both Frederick Soddy and... Read more

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Law is both a condition and a consequence of social development, an outcome of the broader social process, a form of social organization which channels social energies based on the relative strength of past practice and precedent, the present balance of power and emerging social values. Values are the bedrock of social process and the driving force for social... Read more

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This article describes the relevance of a world parliament in the context of long-term social evolution and the crisis of global governance.[*] It is argued that due to the development of weapons of mass destruction and complex interdependency, war has ceased to be a driver of socio-evolutionary consolidation of power at the world-system level. At the same time,... Read more

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Abstract
The author prepared this simulated judgment at the request of Cadmus editors to demonstrate that there is ample ground for revisiting and revising the landmark 1996 advisory opinion of the ICJ on the legality of nuclear weapons. The ICJ failed to anticipate the proliferation of nuclear weapons, which expands the evolution of the concept of sovereignty, the potential... Read more

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The extraordinary extent of the financial crisis has inspired deep systemic reforms world-wide, rethinking financial stability, the resilience of our economic systems, and the role that national and international institutions play. While most of the ongoing activities are understandably centred on banks and the banking sector – the origin and centre of the crisis –... Read more

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The publication of the Club of Rome’s landmark report ‘The Limits to Growth’ in 1972 shook the intellectual foundations of social theory and challenged the very premises on which modern economy and prosperity are based. Once set in motion, it led to a revolutionary re-evaluation of human aspirations and economic activities. Among its many consequences, it has... Read more

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Abstract
History that comes to us as a chronology of events is really a collective existence that is evolving through several stages to develop Individuality in all members of the society. The human community, nation states, linguistic groups, local castes and classes, and families are the intermediate stages in development of the Individual. The social process moves through... Read more

Editorial
Society is a teeming ocean of human energies and capacities, unorganized but latent with unlimited productive potential. The organization of social energies and capacities converts social potential into Social Capital. Each member of society is a microcosm of human potential – an unorganized reservoir of energies, aspirations, and capacities. The organization of the energies and... Read more

Social development is largely a subconscious process. It expresses ir­resistible human aspira­tions and social tenden­cies but works itself out through a long process of trial and error, advance and retreat, conflict and resolution.
Law is a complex phenomenon. The principles and practice of law are a composite of multiple forces – the force of past precedent, established... Read more

“The tremendously wasteful underutiliza­tion of precious hu­man resources and productive capacity is Greece’s most serious problem and also its greatest opportunity.”
The recent agreement to write off a substantial portion of Greek bonds only postpones but does not resolve the essential problem. The key to the Greek crisis lies in economy, not finance. Any financial solution that... Read more

Great landmarks of history are few and far between. Normally they are recognized by scholars only long after the fact. Those in the thick of the fray may often be consciously inspired by the significance of their actions, but rarely does history come to share that perception. The rise of individualism in ancient Greece, its revival during the Italian Renaissance and the radical transformation of... Read more

Social networking did not begin with the Internet. It is as old as human history. For what we now call social networking is really the evolution of human relationships which constitute the backbone of civilization. The emergence of the Internet is the third giant leap forward in a saga that began with the development of symbolic spoken language, the first great instrument that enabled human... Read more

“Focusing on growth of the part without reference to its impact on the whole is a formula for social disease.”
The American subprime mortgage crisis, the international financial crisis that followed and the European financial crisis presently centered on Greece are all expressions of a deeper and wider crisis that has been preparing to surface for decades. This crisis encompasses... Read more

At the time of this writing, more than 10 million lives are at risk on the Horn of Africa due to food shortages arising from poor rainfall and a consequently dismal harvest. But the source of their food insecurity in the region is also related to conflict, environment, education, governance, health and other issues. Famine has reoccurred in spite of a doubling of development... Read more

In moments of crisis, all thoughts are preoccupied with immediate remedies to meet urgent needs, rather than reflection on root causes and ultimate solutions. Yet history suggests that it is only when we are under supreme duress that we are willing to put all the cards on the table and consider the comprehensive and fundamental changes needed to effect permanent solutions.... Read more

By WAAS Strategic Planning CommitteeGarry Jacobs, Winston Nagan, Ruben Nelson and Ivo Šlaus
This document forms part of the second report of the WAAS Strategic Planning Committee presented to the Board of Trustees in May 2010 but never circulated to our Fellows. We publish it now inviting readers from both within and outside the Academy to contribute their ideas on the type of knowledge the world... Read more

Appeal
And suddenly everything is different! With the Arab Spring we are entering into a new era while the European Union itself is facing huge challenges. This is the time to innovate! Diplomacy, economy and society have to be rethought to respond to the aspirations towards a new development model, the strengthening of the rule of law, and the establishment of a new framework for integrating... Read more

Society constitutes an invisible web of relationships between its members. It has a defined structure of authority, status, rights, knowledge, beliefs, values, laws, specialized institutions, functional systems and formal activities radiating down and out from centers of power to the periphery. Beyond the perceptible limits lies an amorphous unknown territory akin to the undiscovered New World... Read more

Society is an intricately complex web of mutually beneficial, productive and collaborative relationships between people, activities, institutions, laws, ideas and values. Ideas and values determine the breadth, depth and heights of civilization and culture to which society attains. Organization constitutes the warp and woof of that web and determines its strength, quality, amplitude and capacity... Read more

September 2011
Members of the Academy and Club of Rome met in Dubrovnik, Croatia on September 26-27, 2011 to participate in the Dubrovnik Sustainable Development Conference and to launch the WAAS project, “From Crises to Prosperity”, which will examine the root and common causes of four international crises related to global governance – financial stability, unemployment, climate change and... Read more

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The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
1. One Tribe Becomes Many
Between fifty and one hundred thousand years ago, a small group of homo sapiens made its way out of Africa and established settlements in what we now call the Middle East. Over the millennia, we multiplied and spread across the whole earth. In response to... Read more

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Life evolves by consciousness, consciousness evolves by organization. Human life evolves by a progressive heightening of our awareness, expansion of our knowledge, widening of our attitudes, and elevation of our values. This evolving human consciousness progressively expresses itself through the formulation and creation of more complex and effective organization – a... Read more

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Editor’s note: This issue of Cadmus focuses on the power of organizational innovation to address social problems and enhance social effectiveness. The development of law marks the evolution of civilization. Survival of the fittest is the law of the jungle based on strength alone. As society developed, rule by the governing principle of physical strength on the battle field... Read more

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Humanity has made immense progress over the last few decades. The starting point for setting a future's agenda can be anchored in a healthier, better educated, more prosperous, and better informed and connected world than ever.
Humanity finds itself at an evolutionary crossroad. The choice is between a perfect storm of progressively deepening crises and expanding... Read more

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Abstract:
The relationship between peace and development holds the key to effective strategies for addressing the roots of social unrest. Rising expectations are the principal driving force for social development. However, the faster and higher aspirations rise, the greater the gap between expectations and reality. That gap promotes a sense of frustration, depravation and... Read more

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For over 40 years the Club of Rome has been concerned with the sustainability of our planet. The conclusion of the famous first report to the Club of Rome The Limits to Growth that the world was on an unsustainable path was anticipatory and prescient.1 Although Limits caused considerable debate, after an initial flurry of interest, the message of the Club of Rome was largely... Read more

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The yawning gap between the real world and the discipline and profession of economics has never been wider. The ever-increasing abstractions in finance and its models based on "efficient markets" and "rational actors": capital asset pricing, Value-at-Risk, Black-Scholes Options Pricing have been awarded most of the Bank of Sweden prizes since they were founded in the 1960s... Read more

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The number and severity of conflicts (violent clashes where there are more than 1000 casualties) have declined markedly since the end of the Cold War. This is shown graphically below despite this being a time of high population growth:1
Figure1: Number of reported, codable deaths from state-based armed conflict, 1946-2005
Even including a rise in the number of terrorist... Read more

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Technology offers a number of examples of serendipity, of random discovery, of experiments going off the rails - though we highlight mostly the ones where the offshoots were spectacular.
Aspartame was discovered - or involuntarily invented - in 1965 by James M Schlatter, a chemist working to produce an anti-ulcer drug. Schlatter just happened to experience a sweet taste when... Read more

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Abstract
Human progress is stimulated by external threats and pressures. Values distilled from long experience possess the essential knowledge and power needed for continuous development and evolution. Successive waves of foreign invasions following the collapse of the Roman Empire coalesced the tribes of England into a nation state. Centuries of incessant warfare finally... Read more

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Abstract*
The recent international financial crisis highlights the crucial role of employment in human welfare and social stability. Access to remunerative employment opportunities is essential for economic security in a market-based economic system. As the rise of democracy compelled nations to extend the voting right to all citizens, employment must be recognized as a... Read more

In 2009-10, the Academy conducted a strategic planning process in which more than sixty Fellows contributed ideas and proposals relating to the future direction and activities of WAAS. Based on these contributions, the Strategic Planning Committee submitted two reports to the Board of Trustees which include draft vision and mission statements. The first report containing the Mission statement was... Read more

Cadmus Journal has been launched to promote leadership in thought that leads to action. The first issue focused on wealth and welfare and concluded that a paradigm change is necessary - a change as profound as the paradigm change in physical sciences at the beginning of the 20th century and much more profound than the Copernican paradigm change. The first issue of Cadmus identified major issues... Read more

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A Commentary*
The world is at an inflection point. A convergence of themes – seemingly disconnected – is integral and urgent to our very survival. Our world is headed into a Perfect Storm of an interconnected financial, ecological and social crisis. Almost all forward-looking assessments demonstrate that business as usual and incremental improvements will not be sufficient... Read more

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1. Neoclassical Economics & the “General Equilibrium” System
1.1 Supply and Demand in a Static “Perfect” Equilibrium
The act of selling or buying goods always takes place at a given moment or instant in time, at which a price is agreed and paid. The general economic system is considered by standard economics to be based on a “General Equilibrium” which represents the... Read more

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At the time of writing, there is an obvious and tragic upheaval in the Arab world and a large number of other developing nations. North Africa from Mauritania to the Suez Canal and Yemen, the Persian Gulf from Iraq to Bahrain and Oman, and Afghanistan are on fire, much of it fuelled by religious ideologies, but also supported by Great Power politics. This upheaval comes on... Read more

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The past three and a half years have seen a very rough ride for the world’s financial markets. Not only did the credit crisis (which The Geneva Association has studied intensively) directly impact the value of many real world assets (especially U.S. real estate) and stock markets with particular bearing on bank stocks, many derivatives and structured financial products; it... Read more

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1. The Limits of National Democratization
The peaceful mass protests of millions of Egyptians that toppled the repressive and corrupt presidency of Hosni Mubarak in the course of 18 days and the ouster of Tunisia’s President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after massive civil resistance might turn out to mark an important milestone in the expansion of democracy in the world.* Over... Read more

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1. Biopolicy to meet the global economic and environmental challenge
It is not only the global economy that the facing a deep recession, but also the global environment. Unavailability of credit and loss of jobs and income, coupled with climate change, energy insecurity, pollution of the air, water and soil, and the decimation of species and habitats, are creating an... Read more

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Government is as old as the society. Governance is as recent as 1900. One is a fact of power. The other is a theoretical concept that precedes in Mind before humanity reduces it to a fact of experience. For the mental man, the latter assumes evolutionary significance of extraordinary value. Man when he realises that significance, acquires a Himalayan power to take his... Read more

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1. Introduction
Universal nuclear disarmament** is not a new concept. From the time that the weapon was first used in 1945, and once the horrendous destruction that it could cause was understood, countries have struggled with the challenge of how to put the genie back into the bottle. To little avail. Nuclear abolition has proved to be an elusive objective owing to the lack... Read more

The editors welcome submission of proposals, articles, ideas, abstracts, reviews, letters and comments by Fellows of the World Academy of Art & Science, Members of the Club of Rome and Pugwash as well as invited and unsolicited articles from the public. All proposals are reviewed by the editorial board to determine their suitability for publication in Cadmus.
The clear intention behind the... Read more

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For early economists such as Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and John Stuart Mill, economics was indivisible from moral philosophy. Their objective was not to discover eternal laws governing the functioning of human economic systems, but rather to improve upon the prevailing economic system to support the survival and enhance the economic security of all members of society. They... Read more

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“Employment is the single greatest challenge facing humanity today,” according to Ian Johnson, Secretary General of the Club of Rome, in his opening remarks to an international conference last November – remarkable words coming from an organization known principally for its concern about environmental issues. In similar fashion, renowned security expert Jasjit Singh, a World... Read more

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A new world is struggling to be born. Or rather a world of separate and disparate people and nations is struggling to evolve into a diversified but unified human community. Throughout history two opposing tendencies have spurred the evolution of society – the urge of the collective to ensure its security, sustenance and power through exercise of authority, organization and... Read more

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Nuclear weapons present a problem of immense complexity involving a multiplicity of actors, both nuclear and non-nuclear weapon states as well as non-state actors, with differing perceptions and security threats and compounded by the growing importance of nuclear energy and technological advances in conventional weaponry and cruise missiles. Yet a few things are... Read more

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While administering relief and development aid in the Far East during the early 1950s, former WAAS President and Club of Rome member Harlan Cleveland coined a new phrase to describe a striking phenomenon which he perceived would have profound impact on the future course of democracy and human development. He spoke of a revolution of rising expectations awakening the... Read more

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Very warm congratulations on the new journal - it certainly has a role to play in today's world.*
Over the holidays I had an opportunity to read some of the well-written articles in the first issue of Cadmus. I also read and liked "OUR VISION" published on the second page in which you requested "my ideas" regarding this new endeavor.
WAAS completed fifty... Read more

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Employment is one of the crucial problems of the contemporary world. The World Academy’s Global Employment Challenge Project (launched in 2009 and on-going) and the Club of Rome’s International Conference on Concerted Strategies for International Development in the 21st Century, Bern, November 17-18, 2010 have both concluded that a fundamental paradigm change is required in... Read more

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Beyond GDP: Global Poll*
A new global poll across 12 countries reveals that more than two-thirds of people polled think that economic statistics like GDP are an inadequate way of measuring national progress.
The poll finds that 68% believe that health, social and environmental statistics are as important as economic data, and that governments should also use those to measure... Read more

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1. Introduction
In the Introduction to the first issue of CADMUS, Ivo Šlaus and Garry Jacobs essentially provide us with a reminder that the founders of modern economics were also important moral philosophers. In particular, Adam Smith would appear to be influenced by the idea that economics has a great deal to do with human well-being. His theory was meant to be a tool to... Read more

The European Leadership Network (ELN) for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation is a network of senior European political, military and diplomatic figures including Des Browne, Ruud Lubbers, Lord Geoffrey Howe, Lord Robertson, and Ivo Šlaus. ELN was established in June 2010 to express concern over the world’s growing nuclear dangers and to work multilaterally to have those... Read more

Fellows of the World Academy of Art & Science, The Club of Rome, and the Pugwash Conferences
Dear Friend,
By now you should have received the first issue of Cadmus, and we - the Editorial Board - welcome your comments and suggestions. This journal is meant to be interactive, a vehicle for all of us to work together on issues that youdeem important.
The development of human-centered economy... Read more

“Leadership in thought that leads to action” is the phrase Harlan Cleveland, President of the Academy from 1991 to 2000, adopted to characterize the mission of the Academy. We — and the world — need it now, more than ever.
We need innovative and truly fresh ideas, ideas that can open up new directions in the evolution of Earth and humanity. We need ideas that will enable us to better understand... Read more

Adam Smith’s analysis in the Wealth of Nations gave birth at the end of the eighteenth century to economics as we know it today. As a moral philosopher, he wanted to provide a better understanding of how to fight poverty. While most social thinkers insisted that wealth could only develop from agriculture, Smith observed that the beginning of the industrialisation process was the key and priority... Read more

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At great moments, great movements arise. Life makes history memorable by its revelation at such moments. Military movements were led by generals, political movements by great personalities. After the war, leadership of such movements was offering itself to great international organizations. Initially the UN responded to the mature moment. The world has been waiting for one... Read more

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Table of Contents
The Need for New Theory and Strategies
Necessity of Full Employment
New Theoretical Perspectives
Available Tools for Full Employment
Endnotes
1. The Need for New Theory and Strategies
From October 2009 to March 2010, the World Academy of Art & Science launched an e-conference on the Global Employment Challenge (GEC). The conference included video... Read more

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The Committee on Transforming Finance, a multinational network of career market participants: investors, asset managers, business executives, philanthropists, academics and financial authors, holds that the financial system is a global commons and calls for a new set of rules that would allow it to be governed in full conformance with this reality.
We as beneficiaries and... Read more

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Table of Contents
Introduction
Tools and Measures
Measures of National Income
Need for New Theory
Measures and Indicators
Characteristics of a Successful Indicator
The Problem of Value
What are we trying to measure?
Alternative indices
Components of Economic Welfare
Human Economic Welfare Index (HEWI)
Composite HEWI
Conclusions
Endnotes
1. Introduction
Right measurement... Read more

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In the development of internationally sanctioned standards for labor and employment there are some threshold considerations that must be taken into account. First, labor and employment rights generally fall within the category of social, cultural and political rights. This is to be distinguished from conventional, civil and political rights. Internationally, the institution... Read more

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Abstract
This paper defines the knowledge society as a human structured organisation based on contemporary developed knowledge and representing new quality of life support systems. It implies the need for a full understanding of distribution of knowledge, access to information and the capability to transfer information into a knowledge. The understanding of knowledge... Read more